This invention relates to an earpiece of novel design for insertion in an ear canal (external acoustic meatus) as a part of an earphone, an ear mounted microphone, an earphone/microphone combination or the like. The present invention is also directed to an earphone, an ear mounted microphone, and an earphone/microphone combination incorporating the earpiece as an essential component.
Japanese Unexamined Patent Publication No. 57-76993 is hereby cited as teaching earpieces explicitly designed for insertion in an ear canal as a part of an earphone or the like. One of these prior art earpieces has a canal insert of approximately cylindrical shape. The earpiece of this known shape is objectionable because the part of the ear canal in the neighborhood of its outer end, which is to receive the earpiece, varies in shape and size from one person to another. The earpiece of simple cylindrical shape can therefore be hardly expected to fit closely in the outer opening of the ear against the possibility of accidental detachment therefrom or angular displacement therein.
The Japanese unexamined patent referred to above also suggests an earpiece shaped to fit in the outer ear opening by taking advantage of the tragus, antitragus and concha of the outer ear structure. There are, however, many people who have hardly any prominent antitragus, so that this second known earpiece hardly lends itself to use with such people.